Speedsters rock riverboat restaurant at Marina South Pier

The Mexican grill restaurant aboard Stewords Riverboat serves its customers a ginger pill as an appetiser so they won’t feel queasy. Over the past two years, 62 fines were handed out to boat operators for violating the rules. -- ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN

By Jessica Lim

At a Mexican grill restaurant on board a boat in Marina South Pier, customers are served a unique appetiser: a ginger pill for seasickness.

"Quite a few of our customers get seasick and we give them ginger motion-sickness pills. We joke that it's a free appetiser to lighten the mood," said the owner of Stewords Riverboat, Mr Eric Saw, who operates the Sante Fe restaurant on board.

Customers are likely to feel quesy because the 350-seater riverboat tends to be rocked by waves created by other boats that travel at high speeds in the area.

Mr Saw, 61, said the problem has worsened in the past two years with more boats using the pier. He noted that most of the offenders are ferry operators picking up and dropping off passengers to and from the Southern Islands and Eastern Anchorage. He has approached his landlord, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), several times to plead for tighter enforcement in the area.